Push notifications provide timely notifications to users without requiring the receiving device to connect to a server and request a status update. Push notifications save battery life for the receiving device, as connecting to a server takes more processing power than simply receiving the pushed notification. In the case of email communication, notifications can be pushed from a backend service that monitors a user's email inbox and detects incoming email messages.
The backend services that support push notifications are typically designed to support native applications, such as a native email client, that can interact with and take advantage of operating-system features. Complications arise when using third-party applications that cannot take advantage of certain operating-system features, and therefore do not receive push notifications in the traditional manner. These complications compound when an enterprise implements an Enterprise Mobility Management (“EMM”) or Mobile Device Management (“MDM”) system, where the EMM provider can be managing thousands of email accounts across multiple different systems, servers, and backends. Today's operating systems simply cannot accommodate push notifications in that scenario.
EMM providers can work around the problems above by directly accessing users' email accounts to monitor changes and then send notifications as desired. However, doing so requires an EMM provider to either utilize a service account with authority to access multiple users' accounts, or store email credentials for each of the user accounts. Both of these approaches can create security concerns, as the users' credentials are susceptible to being stolen by anyone with sufficient access to the EMM provider's system.
As a result, a need exists for systems and methods that allow an EMM provider to access user email accounts and coordinate push notifications without the EMM provider storing credentials for the email accounts that could allow hackers to gain access.